EASTER IS COMING....

Easter is for me a magic time!
It's when nature starts awakening and weather warms up...I just love it!
My kitchen gets busy renewing the old Italian tradition:
fiatoni di bietole (swiss chards), fiatoni alle uova e formaggi
(eggs and cheeses),
frittate (omelettes), torta pasqualina (spinach and eggs tart)
pastiera di grano (tart filled with cooked wheat grains and ricotta).
Today I have prepared "fiatoni di bietole", a sort of calzone filled with
swiss chards, and I'm going to share the recipe with you!

FIATONI DI BIETOLE

Ingredients for 9/10 fiatoni:

to make pizza dough:

500 g (or 3 cups) of bread flour
1 cup of warm water with 1 tsp yeast and a pinch of sugar
2 cups of warm water
1 TBS olive oil
3 tsp salt

In a bowl mix flour with salt, add the water where yeast
has been melted with sugar, and start mixing.
Add more water and the oil and keep mixing till you obtain a soft,
homogenic dough.
Let it rest covered with a cloth for 1 hour.
Then knead it on a wooden board, cut it in small pieces.
Knead each piece, form a ball and let it rest
covered with a cloth, for half an hour.
With a rolling pin flatten each ball in a fine round sheet.

To prepare filling:

4 bunches of fresh swiss chards
1 pot of anchovies
2 TBS capers
1 clove of garlic
2 TBS chopped green olives
a pinch of pepper flakes
olive oil

Wash chards and blanch them in salty water, drain, and let them cool down.
Squeeze out all excess of water from the chards, chop them finely and put
them in a bowl.
Add capers, olives, anchovies, garlic, pepper flakes and a bit of olive oil,
then mix well.

Fill in the fine dough with 2/3 TBS of chards mixture, close in half moon shape,
brush top with olive oil and bake at 475 degrees for 10 minutes or till golden
brown.

THE POWERFUL BERRIES

This is the time when the farmer stalls become colorful with berries!
Strawberries, rasberries and blueberries are antioxidants full of Vit C
and minerals like potassium and magnesium.
As soon as the fresh berries start popping out in the market I use them
in my kitchen simply as they are or I serve them as dessert in a tart shell.
Here it is my favourite tart:

CROSTATA WITH BERRIES AND MASCARPONE CREAM

Ingredients:
- for pastry:
250 gr flour
100 gr white sugar
120 gr butter
1 egg
2 TBS Martini liquor
- for filling:
300 gr mascarpone cheese
3 TBS white sugar
3 eggs
- for topping:
2 cups mixed berries, blueberries, rasberries or strawberries

To prepare the pastry:
Place flour as a fountain on a wooden board and in the middle add sugar,
eggs and liquor and start mixing. Add softened butter and mix to form a
dough.
Put dough in a bowl, cover with cling paper and refrigerate for 20 min.
Transfer dough on a wooden board and flatten it with a rolling pin in a
round shape .
Transfer pastry in a baking pan, cover with parchment paper topped by dry
beans and bake it for 15/20 minutes.

To prepare filling:
In a bowl mix egg yolks with sugar to form a soft cream.
Add mascarpone to mixture and mix it well.
Beat egg whites till stiff,and add them gently to the
cream.

To prepare topping:
Wash well berries, then place them in a bowl with 1 TBS of sugar and 1 lemon juice.
Mix and let it rest.

To assemble the crostata:
Free pastry from parchment paper and beans and fill it with mascarpone
cream, add mixed berries on top.

Refrigerate before serving.

ARTICHOKE, THE KING!

I love artichokes! They are among my favorite vegetables!
When spring comes and they are freshly available on the market I really enjoy using them in my kitchen for different recipes!

The peak season for artichoke harvesting is the spring, but artichokes continue to be harvested throughout the summer, with another peak period in mid-autumn.
Artichokes, in particular those that have been cut, can turn brown due to the enzymatic browning and chlorophyll oxidation. If not cooked immediately, placing them in water lightly acidulated with vinegar or lemon juice prevents the discoloration.
In Italy, artichoke hearts in oil are the usual vegetable for 'spring' section of the 'Four Seasons' pizza (with olives for summer, mushrooms for autumn, and prosciutto for winter). A recipe well known in Rome is Jewish-style artichokes, which are deep-fried whole.
Stuffed artichokes recipes are many. A common Italian stuffing uses a mixture of bread crumbs, garlic, oregano, parsley, grated cheese, and prosciutto or sausage. A bit of the mixture is then pushed into the spaces at the base of each leaf and into the center before boiling or steaming.
In Spain, the more tender, younger, and smaller artichokes are used. They can be sauteed in olive oil with garlic and combined with eggs in a tortilla (frittata).
The total antioxidant capacity of artichoke flower heads is one of the highest reported for vegetables. Cynarin, an active chemical constituent in artichokes causes an increased bile flow. This diuretic vegetable is of nutritional value because of its exhibiting an aid to digestion, strengthening of the liver function and gall bladder function, and raising of the HDL/LDL ratio. This reduces cholesterol levels, which diminishes the risk for arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

After all this said, are you ready to prepare a nice
ARTICHOKE's FRITTATA?

Ingredients:

4 fresh artichokes
6 eggs
half cup grated mozzarella
4 scallion
1 clove of garlic
parsley
olive oil
salt

Prepare the artichokes eliminating the hard external leaves,
then cut in half and put them in water with lemon.
Dry them on a paper towel and slice them in quarters.
In a frying pan warm up 3TBS of olive oil, add the chopped scallion
and the artichokes, cook for few minutes then add minced garlic and salt.
Cover with lid and cook till tender (about 10 minutes).
Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Beat eggs, add salt and mix them with mozzarella.
Pour egg mixture on the artichokes and cover pan with lid.
Cook at low heat.
When it starts smelling nice turn over the frittata with the help of lid.
Cook for few more minutes and the frittata is ready!

Buon appetito!

EGGPLANT ITALIAN STYLE

Roasted eggplants are delicious!
Here is how prepare them, following my mom's instructions.

Ingredients:

1 firm, long eggplant
extravirgin olive oil
capers
sundried tomatos
dried oreganum
garlic
fresh parsley
salt
balsamic vinegar


Slice the eggplant in thin rounds and form a layer in a colander.
Sprinkle with salt and let them rest for 1 hour so that water will
come out.
Dry sliced eggplant with paper towel, brush them with oil and roast
both sides on an electric griddle till soft and browned.
Remove from griddle and dispose the slices on a tray forming a layer.
Add some more olive oil and sprinkle with salt, oreganum, capers,
sundried tomatos and chopped garlic.
Before serving add a spritz of balsamic vinegar and chopped parsley.